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The Recovery of Seabird Populations on Ramsey Island, Pembrokeshire, Wales, Following the 1999/2000 Rat Eradication

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The Recovery of Seabird Populations on Ramsey Island, Pembrokeshire, Wales, Following the 1999/2000 Rat Eradication E.A. Bell, M.D. Bell, G. Morgan and L. Morgan Bell, E.A.; M.D. Bell, G. Morgan and L. Morgan. The recovery of seabird populations on Ramsey Island, Pembrokeshire, Wales, following the 1999/2000 rat eradication The recovery of seabird populations on Ramsey Island, Pembrokeshire, Wales, following the 1999/2000 rat eradication E.A. Bell1, M.D. Bell2, G. Morgan3 and L. Morgan3 1Wildlife Management International Ltd, PO Box 607, Blenheim 7201, New Zealand, <[email protected]>. 2Wildlife Management International Ltd, PO Box 607, Blenheim 7201, New Zealand. 3Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Ramsey Island, c/o Trefeiddan Farm, St David’s, Pembrokeshire, SA62 6PY, United Kingdom. Abstract Ramsey Island, 259 ha, is ca. 1 km off the Pembrokeshire coast, south-west Wales. The eradication of brown rats (Rattus norvegicus) was successfully completed in the winter 1999/2000 using a ground-based bait station operation. The pre-eradication survey using tape playback estimated the Manx shearwater (Puffinus puffinus) population to be 849 pairs. These surveys were repeated in 2007, 2012 and 2016. Each survey showed the Manx shearwater population had increased, reaching 4,796 pairs in 2016 with birds spreading from previously known breeding locations. European storm petrels (Hydrobates pelagicus) were first recorded breeding on Ramsey Island in 2008 with up to 12 pairs in 2016 (a minimum estimate based on accessible survey areas). Other species have also shown improvements to population estimates and range since the rat eradication. This evidence shows that there can be little doubt that the presence of brown rats on Ramsey played a significant role in suppressing breeding numbers and limiting the breeding range of seabirds on the island and the positive results following the successful eradication are now being seen. Keywords: brown rat, European storm petrel, Hydrobates pelagicus, Manx shearwater, Puffinus puffinus, Rattus norvegicus, survey INTRODUCTION STUDY AREA AND METHODS Rats are known to have devastating effects on seabird Study site and land bird populations by predation of eggs, chicks Ramsey Island, 259 ha (5°20′W, 51°51′N), is located and adults which reduces breeding success, recruitment, about 1 km off the Pembrokeshire coast, south-west Wales population size and distribution. They have caused (Fig. 1). It is a nature reserve owned and managed by the extinctions of birds on numerous islands throughout the RSPB. Ramsey Island is approximately 3.2 km long and world (Moors & Atkinson, 1984, Atkinson, 1985, Towns, 1.6 km across at its widest point and is surrounded by et al., 2006; Jones, et al., 2008). Smaller burrowing seabirds coastal cliffs which are particularly high and steep on the are recognised as the species most affected by invasive rats western side of the island. There is also a number of small (Jones, et al., 2008; Towns, et al., 2011). The eradication of islets (including a chain of islets from the southern end) rats from seabird islands is recognised as one of the most and caves around the coastline. The coastline of the island important tools in avian conservation in recent times, with is made up of exposed rocky shores with a small number of significant long-term restoration benefits such as increased sandy coves. The top of the island is gently rolling and is productivity and populations sizes and establishment of dominated by two prominent peaks (Carn Ysgubor 101 m new, or return of previously locally extinct, seabird species and Carn Llundian 136 m). The island supports three main being achieved (Atkinson, 1985; Moors, et al.,1992; habitats; acid grassland, bracken-dominated grassland and Lock, 2006; Ratcliffe, et al., 2009; Booker & Price, coastal heathland (Doncaster, 1981; Hurford & Evans, 2010, Bourgeois, et al., 2013; Le Corre, et al., 2015).The 2006; CCW, 2008). The heathland and maritime grassland protection and enhancement of UK seabird breeding habitat communities are of conservation importance in Wales has been recognised as an important conservation priority, (JNCC, 2001; Hurdford & Evans, 2006; CCW, 2008). including under international conservation agreements The rush-pasture fields are grazed by rabbits (Oryctolgus (Brooke, et al., 2007; Ratcliffe, et al., 2009; Dawson, et cuniculus), ponies (Equus caballus) and sheep (Ovis aries) al., 2015; Thomas, et al., 2017). Over 400 islands around as part of the management to support wildlife, particularly the world have been successfully cleared of rats, including choughs (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax) (Doncaster, 1981; twelve in the United Kingdom, with a subsequent increase Long, 2003). The bank vole (Myodes glareolus) and in bird populations (Thomas & Taylor, 2002; Towns & common shrew (Sorex araneus) are also present on the Broome, 2003; Jones, et al., 2008; Howald, et al., 2007, island. DIISE, 2015, Thomas, et al., 2017). A feasibility study of eradicating brown rats (Rattus norvegicus) from Ramsey Island was completed in 1998 and led to the ground-based eradication in autumn 1999. Documenting the recovery of bird species on islands that have had invasive mammals removed is becoming increasingly important. RSPB has been monitoring bird populations on Ramsey Island since 1992. Due to difficulty in accessing natural burrows, between 2013 and 2016, RSPB constructed a man-made seabird habitat using artificial burrows with the aim to establish a Manx shearwater (Puffinus puffinus) colony that could be used to monitor productivity, recruitment and adult survival. This paper details the changes to the Manx shearwater population on Ramsey Island, including within the man- made habitat, and the subsequent colonisation of the island by European storm petrel (Hydrobates pelagicus) following the eradication of brown rats. Fig. 1 Location of Ramsey Island, Wales. In: C.R. Veitch, M.N. Clout, A.R. Martin, J.C. Russell and C.J. West (eds.) (2019). Island invasives: scaling 539 up to meet the challenge, pp. 539–544. Occasional Paper SSC no. 62. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN. Island invasives: scaling up to meet the challenge. Ch 3C Strategy: Outcomes The island is part of the Pembrokeshire Coast National of the island on hills Carn Llundain and Carn Ysgubor Park and has a range of designations including as a Site of (I.D. Bullock, unpublished data; Perkins, et al., 2017). For Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), National Nature Reserve burrow counting and sampling purposes, Ramsey Island (NNR), Important Bird Area (IBA), Special Protection was divided into 42 sub-areas by topographical features. Area (SPA) and Marine Special Area of Conservation A full count of suitable burrows (i.e. more than 0.7 m in (MSAC) (JNCC, 2001; CCW, 2008; Hayhow, et al., length and not doubling back to the surface) in these 42 2016). Ramsey holds important breeding populations of sub-areas was completed in 1999, 2007, 2012 and 2016. razorbill (Alca torda), guillemot (Uria aalge), kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla), Manx shearwater, chough and wheatear Estimation of the numbers of Manx shearwaters (Oenanthe oenanthe) (JNCC, 2001; Johnstone, et al., on Ramsey Island was based on playback of recorded 2011). Ramsey Island is also an important breeding site for calls (Brooke, 1978; Smith, et al, 2001; Perkins, et al., Atlantic grey seals (Halichoerus grypus). 2017). This method relies on the fact that if a male Manx shearwater call is played down a sample of burrows The island is popular with visitors who are interested during the incubation period, most incubating males, but in the seabirds, land birds, flora and history. These visitors no incubating females will respond to that call (Smith, et travel to the island on small passenger vessels from St al., 2001). For a given number of breeding pairs, it is then David’s between April and October. There is a jetty and possible to establish the number of males that respond to several buildings on the island, including the warden’s recorded calls. From this, using the following formula it home and information shelter. is possible to estimate the number of breeding pairs in the burrows on the island. Manx shearwaters have been recorded on Ramsey Island since the 18th century (Mathew, 1894; Holloway, 2010; Lovegrove, et al., 2010). Historical reports and more recent seabird monitoring on Ramsey recorded declines The response rate for Manx shearwaters was calculated in Manx shearwaters and other seabirds (Mathew, 1894; by Bullock in 1999 (0.409) and was based on a study set Humpridge & Bullock, 1999; Lovegrove, et al., 2010). of 13 burrows (Humpridge & Bullock 1999). Alternative These declines were attributed in part to the presence of response rates were available from Skomer (0.43, Smith, brown rats and predation on eggs and chicks (Humpridge et al., 2001) and Skokholm (0.505, Brooke, 1978) or the & Bullock, 1999; Lovegrove, et al., 2010). seabird monitoring handbook (0.505, Walsh, et al., 1995). The Ramsey response rate of 0.409 was used in 2007 as It is not known when brown rats became established on it allows direct comparison to the earlier survey on the Ramsey Island; but this was likely to have occurred more island. The response rates were recalculated for the 2012 than two hundred years ago from an early shipwreck. survey (to 0.4625) using methods developed by Murray, et al. (2003), Newton, et al. (2004) and Perrins, et al. (2012). Brown rat eradication The response rates were recalculated for the 2016 survey (to 0.845) which used dual-sex calls which had been shown The eradication of brown rats was completed as a to give a more reliable correction factor (Perkins, et al., ground-based operation using rodenticide cereal blocks in 2017). protective bait stations to reduce risk to non-target species. A 50 m ×50 m grid was established in autumn 1999. Bait A recording of male Manx shearwater calls was played stations were made from 500 mm lengths of corrugated down 20% of burrows in each sub-area during the main plastic drainage pipe staked into position using wire.
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